Auxiliary support rack for portable electronic devices

ABSTRACT

An auxiliary support rack for portable electronic devices attached to the front side of the torso of a human body includes an openable dock, a clamp swivel assembly and a lanyard. The openable dock includes a first plate which has an installation portion and a second plate. The clamp swivel assembly includes a rotary tray coupled with the installation portion and swivelable against the first plate, a gear set installed on the rotary tray, two clamp members engaged with the gear set to be moved to clamp the a portable electronic device and a latch release member engaged with the gear set. The lanyard includes two anchor ends fastened to the openable dock and a neck dangling section located between the two anchor ends to be hung on a human neck.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an auxiliary support rack and particularly to an auxiliary support rack for a portable electronic device attachable to a human body to facilitate one-finger operation without griping the handset with another palm.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With development of mobile technology portable electronic devices now have been widely used in people's daily life. However, used for a prolonged period of time user's hand muscles are easily fatigued. This is an issue yet to be resolved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention aims to provide an auxiliary support rack for portable electronic devices that is attached to the front side of the torso of a human body. It includes an openable dock, a clamp swivel assembly and a lanyard. The openable dock includes a first plate which has an installation portion and a second plate. The clamp swivel assembly includes a rotary tray coupled with the installation portion and swivelable against the first plate, a gear set installed on the rotary tray, two clamp members engaged with the gear set to be moved, therewith to clamp the a portable electronic device and a latch release member engaged with the gear set to restrict and release rotation of the gear set. The lanyard includes two anchor ends fastened to the openable dock and a neck dangling section hung on a human neck.

In one embodiment of the invention the first plate includes a first latch portion corresponding to a first hinge portion, the second plate includes a second latch portion, set corresponding to a second hinge portion, to latch with the first latch portion. Moreover, the first plate includes two lanyard anchor portions faced the second plate and spaced from each other to anchor the lanyard. The first plate includes two lanyard directing portions faced the second plate and spaced from each other to direct the lanyard. In addition, the second plate includes two anti-skid members in contact with the front side of the human torso. The installation portion includes a plurality of positioning struts jutting toward the rotary tray, and the rotary tray includes a plurality of positioning indentations corresponding to the positioning struts for latching therewith. The second plate further includes a storage portion faced the first plate to hold a plate-shaped object, and also includes an anchor portion jutting toward the first plate to press the plate-shaped object. The latch release member includes a jutting teeth portion to engage with the gear set, a push portion jutting through the rotary tray and depressible by users, and an elastic press portion to provide an elastic press force to keep the jutting teeth portion to maintain the engaged condition with the gear set. Furthermore, each clamp member includes a gear rack engaged with the gear set and an elastic butting portion connected to the rotary tray to provide an elastic butting force. Through the structure set forth above sore hands caused by using mobile devices for a prolonged period of time can be avoided and user's head also does not need to be lowered too much.

The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is exploded view-1 of the auxiliary support rack for portable electronic devices of the invention.

FIG. 2 is exploded view-2 of the auxiliary support rack for portable electronic devices of the invention.

FIG. 3 is exploded view-3 of the auxiliary support rack for portable electronic devices of the invention.

FIG. 4A is a schematic view of the auxiliary support rack of the invention in a use condition.

FIG. 4B is a schematic view of the auxiliary support rack of the invention in another use condition.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Please referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the present invention aims to provide an auxiliary support rack for portable electronic devices that can be hung on the neck of a human body and attached to the front side of the human torso. The auxiliary support rack comprises an openable dock 1, a clamp swivel assembly 2 and a lanyard 3. The openable dock 1 includes a first plate 11 and a second plate 12 hinged on the first plate 11. The first plate 11 includes a first hinge portion 111, a first latch portion 112 corresponding to the first hinge portion 111, an installation portion 113 faced another side of the second plate 12, two lanyard anchor portions 114 faced the second plate 12 and Spaced from each other to anchor the lanyard 3, and two lanyard directing portions 115 faced the second plate 12 and spaced from each other to direct the lanyard 3. The installation portion 113 includes a plurality of positioning struts 116 jutting toward the clamp swivel assembly 2. The second plate 12 includes a second hinge portion 121 hinged on the first hinge portion 111, a second latch portion 122 corresponding to the second hinge portion 121 and latchable with the first latch portion 112, a storage portion 123 faced the first plate 11, an anchor portion 124 jutting toward the first plate 11 and two anti-skid members 125 located at the bottom side of the second plate 12. The anti-skid members 125 can be in contact with the front side of the human torso to provide a friction force.

In addition, the clamp swivel assembly 2 includes a rotary tray 21 coupled with the installation portion 113, a gear set 22 coupled with the rotary tray 21, two clamp members 23 engaged with the gear set 22 to be moved therewith, and a latch release members 24 engaged with the gear set 22 to restrict and release rotation of the gear set 22 to adjust the relative distance of the two clamp members 23. The rotary tray 21 includes a plurality of positioning indentations 211 corresponding to the positioning struts 116 to form latching therewith. The latch release member 24 includes a jutting teeth portion 241 engaged with the gear set 22, a push portion 242 jutting through the rotary tray 21 and depressible by users to move the latch release member 24, and an elastic press portion 243 to provide an elastic press force to keep the jutting teeth portion 241 and the gear set 22 in the engaged condition. The gear set 22 includes three gears, in which the middle gear has two rows of wheel gears abreast with each other. One row of the wheel gears is engaged with other two gears, while other row of the wheel gears is collaborated with the jutting teeth portion 241 to form a ratchet gear function. Each clamp member 23 includes a gear rack 231 engaged with the gear set 22 and an elastic butting portion 232 connected to the rotary tray 21. The lanyard 3 includes two anchor ends 31 connected to the openable dock 1 and inserted into the two lanyard anchor portions 114 for anchoring, and a neck dangling section 32 located between the two anchor ends 31 to be hung on the neck of the human body.

Please referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B, when in use, a user flips the first plate 11 or the second plate 12 open, and the first plate 11 and the second plate 12 swivel about the first hinge portion 111 and the second hinge portion 121 as a hinge center, meanwhile the first latch portion 112 and the second latch portion 122 are latched with each other at varying flipped angles to form positioning against each other. Next, the user can swivel the rotary tray 21 against the first plate 11 about the installation portion 113 as a swivel center such that the positioning indentations 211 can be latched with the positioning struts 116, then the rotary tray 21 and the first plate 11 can be positioned against each other at different swivel angles.

Furthermore, the elastic butting portion 232 can push the two clamp members 23 outward through an elastic butting force, and the elastic press portion 243 keeps the jutting teeth portion 241 and the gear set 243 in the engaged condition through an elastic press force. When the user wants to install the portable electronic device on the auxiliary rack, the user needs merely placing the portable electronic device between the two clamp members 23 and moving toward the two clamp members 23 to form clamping thereof. Meanwhile, the gear set 22 is driven by the gear racks 231 and moves. When the two clamp members 23 are moved close to the portable electronic device and stop the movement the gear set 22 also stops movement. Then the jutting teeth portion 241 is engaged with the middle gear to form a ratchet gear function to keep the two clamp members 23 at a distance matching the portable electronic device without being pushed outward by the elastic butting force of the elastic butting portion 232, therefore can clamp the portable electronic device. When the user wants to remove the portable electronic device from the auxiliary support rack the user needs merely to push the push portion 242 to overcome the elastic press force of the elastic press portion 243, then the jutting teeth portion 241 escapes the middle gear of the gear set 22, and the two clamp members 23 are pushed outward by the elastic butting force of the elastic butting portion 232 and return to their original positions. The storage portion 123 can hold a plate-shaped object. The anchor portion 124 can push the plate-shaped object while it is held in the storage portion 123. The two lanyard directing portions 115 can direct the lanyard 3 in a direction remote from the portable electronic device. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An auxiliary support rack for portable electronic devices attached to the front side of a human torso, comprising: an openable dock including a first plate and a second plate hinged on the first plate, the first plate including a first hinge portion and an installation portion faced another side of the second plate, the second plate including a second hinge portion hinged on the first hinge portion to allow the second plate to swivel against the first plate; a clamp swivel assembly including a rotary tray coupled with the installation portion and swivelable about the installation portion as a hinge center against the first plate, a gear set coupled with the rotary tray, two clamp members engaged with the gear set and moved therewith to clamp a portable electronic device, and a latch release member engaged with the gear set to restrict and release rotation of gear set to adjust the relative distance of the two clamp members; and a lanyard including two anchor ends connected to the openable dock and a neck dangling section located between the two anchor ends to be hung on a human neck.
 2. The auxiliary support rack of claim 1, wherein the first plate includes a first latch portion corresponding to the first hinge portion, the second plate including a second latch portion corresponding to the second hinge portion to latch on the first latch portion to form relative positioning of the first plate and the second plate.
 3. The auxiliary support rack of claim 1, wherein the first plate includes two lanyard anchor portions faced the second plate and spaced from each other to anchor the lanyard.
 4. The auxiliary support rack of claim 1, wherein the first plate includes two lanyard directing portions faced the second plate and spaced from each other to direct the lanyard remote from the portable electronic device.
 5. The auxiliary support rack of claim I, wherein the second plate includes two anti-skid members in contact with the front side of the human torso.
 6. The auxiliary support rack of claim 1, wherein the installation portion includes a plurality of positioning struts jutting toward the rotary tray which includes a plurality of positioning indentations corresponding to the positioning struts and latchable therewith to form positioning of the rotary tray relative to the first plate.
 7. The auxiliary support rack of claim 1, wherein the second plate includes a storage portion faced the first plate to hold a plate-shaped object.
 8. The auxiliary support rack of claim 7, wherein the second plate includes an anchor portion jutting toward the first plate to press the plate-shaped object still in the storage portion.
 9. The auxiliary support rack of claim 1, wherein the latch release member includes a jutting teeth portion engaged with the gear set, a push portion jutting through the rotary tray and depressible by a user to move the latch release portion, and an elastic press portion to provide an elastic press force to keep the jutting teeth portion in the engaged condition with the gear set.
 10. The auxiliary support rack of claim 1, wherein each clamp member includes a gear rack engaged with the gear set and an elastic butting portion connected to the rotary tray to provide an elastic butting force to move the two clamp members relative to each other. 